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Full-Text Articles in Law and Politics
How Cheap Speech Underserves And Overheats Democracy, Gregory P. Magarian
How Cheap Speech Underserves And Overheats Democracy, Gregory P. Magarian
Scholarship@WashULaw
A quarter century ago, Eugene Volokh’s article Cheap Speech and What It Will Do foretold a new regime of technologically driven “cheap speech” that would fundamentally change how people communicated with one another and navigated the information ecosystem. Professor Volokh’s vision was mainly descriptive, and his normative assessment of cheap speech sounded some circumspect notes of warning. Fundamentally, though, he painted an optimistic picture. In particular, he made the important claim that emerging technologies would democratize and diversify our society by giving many more speakers access to the tools of mass communication and audiences access to many more ideas.
Regulating Political Parties Under A Public Rights First Amendment, Gregory P. Magarian
Regulating Political Parties Under A Public Rights First Amendment, Gregory P. Magarian
Scholarship@WashULaw
The recently-enacted McCain-Feingold campaign finance law pushes to the fore the questions of whether and to what extent the First Amendment allows government to regulate the electoral activities of political parties. One of the new law's primary components is its attempt to eliminate so-called "soft money"- unlimited donations to national political parties that the Democrats and Republicans have used to circumvent legal limits on campaign contributions? One congressional opponent of the new law called it "the death knell" for political parties' role in elections." Not surprisingly, both major parties have attacked McCain-Feingold. Most Republicans in Congress opposed the legislation, and …